Who are we?
The Lunchonline time is lead and managed by Trudi Connor. Trudi started with Lunchonline in 2017 in customer service.
(left to right: Heather Coombe, Jane Beardmore, Susan Hopley and Trudi Connor)
Under her leadership Lunchonline continues to grow and the software solution continues to be extended to support schools with easy lunch ordering and payment of their extra-curricular activities.
Susan Hopley and Jane Beardmore are the Customer Support team and the voices that you talk with day-to-day. They resolve all customer queries, with account holders, food providers, and schools. They are focussed about customer service and helping you get what you need!
Heather Coombe is the mathematical whiz and she ensures that everything financial is handled, the way that it should be done!
The Directors of Lunchonline are Brenda Chapman, Sharon Chapman, Julie Gillies and Jason Heaven. Brenda’s background is in marketing, Sharon and Julie are software developers, whilst Jason has been a long-time baker so brings a food provider focus. All four are parents and understand the family juggle to have good school lunches – and the benefits of feeding hungry tummies so that teachers can feed hungry minds.
First to market
Lunchonline was the first online school lunch ordering system in New Zealand, launching in August 2010. It started with Tamatea Intermediate, Napier and has grown to a nationwide service.
We now have a great variety of food providers from local providers including bakeries, delis and sushi bars to large food franchise businesses including Subway, Pita Pit, Burger Fuel and St Pierres.
Schools from Whangarei to Invercargill use the Lunchonline ordering service. Lunchonline has proven to be a successful tool for school tuck shop/canteen to remove cash handling and food wastage.
How did it all begin
Jason Heaven of Heaven’s Bakery, germinated the seed of Lunchonline. He was approached by a local primary school to provide school lunches.
Whilst Jason knew he could provide excellent child-friendly food at the right price, he was not keen on the inevitable cash handling and collating of orders. He let the opportunity pass at that time.
Jason was already working with Sharon Chapman and Julie Gillies of ABC Software and floated the idea that some software could be built to facilitate school lunches. It was some months later that David Chapman, business improvement adviser, heard the idea and he brought the impetus and structure that has made Jason’s idea into the reality of Lunchonline.
Very sadly David passed away in 2017, so Brenda got more involved.
What are we are passionate about?
- We are passionate about food choice and making available both healthy and treat food options.
- We are passionate about making it easy to order a lunch. Easy for the parent/caregiver. Easy for the school. Easy for the food provider. Everyone is a winner with Lunchonline.
- We are passionate about using local food providers for local schools.
- We are passionate about customer service.
Lunchonline is also about giving back. We work with our schools and food providers to return some of the sales value back to the school and support local.
